Still Waters 35,788

Still Waters 35,788

The first humans who settled in Scandinavia more than 10,000 years ago left their DNA behind in ancient chewing gum, masticated lumps made from birch bark pitch. This is shown in a new study conducted at Stockholm University and published in Communications Biology.

Few human bones of this age have been found in Scandinavia, and not all of them have preserved enough DNA for archaeogenetic studies. In fact, the DNA from these newly examined chewing gums is the oldest human DNA ever sequenced from this area. The DNA, derived from two females and one male, creates an exciting link between material culture and human genetics.